The aim of this paper is to analyse two
unedited poems of Konstandinos P. Kavafis («Lohengrin» and «The suspicion») which are
dedicated to the opera Lohengrin by Richard Wagner and were written about 1898. Like
other poems of his formative years such as «Second Odyssey» and «King Claudius», Kavafis
offers in these two poems a transgressive version of the plot of the opera: in the first poem
Lohengrin doesn't come to save Elsa and, in the second one, he is defeated by his enemy
Telramund. Unlike Elsa, the protagonist of the poems is guilty of the crime of which he is
accused and he doesn't deserve the salvation which his dreams promised him. These poems
connect with other texts dated in the poet's maturity in which he claims his marginal status.